I have not yet resigned: Vastanvi

Even as support for the controversial vice-chancellor of the renowned Islamic school Darul Uloom in Deoband, Maulana Gulam Mohammad Vastanvi, is mounting within the school's governing body, the vice-chancellor himself, returning to his native Gujarat on Thursday, told reporters at Vadodara airport that he had not yet resigned.

Even as support for the controversial vice-chancellor of the renowned Islamic school Darul Uloom in Deoband, Maulana Gulam Mohammad Vastanvi, is mounting within the school's governing body, the vice-chancellor himself, returning to his native Gujarat on Thursday, told reporters at Vadodara airport that he had not yet resigned.

Earlier reports had claimed that Vastanvi tendered his resignation on Tuesday night after his remarks ostensibly backing chief minister Narendra Modi, caused a furore in the community.

"I have not yet resigned. A meeting of the Majlis-e- Soora, the governing council of the Darul Uloom will be held on February 23. I will present my case and they will decide on whether I should continue or not," said Vastanvi.

"My statements on Narendra Modi were either misunderstood or badly represented in Urdu media. I stated clearly that I have not given a clean chit to Modi," he said.

He did not, however, deny having said that Muslims should move on beyond the 2002 Gujarat riots, and that Muslims in Gujarat did not face discrimination.

Meanwhile at least one member of the 17-member governing council has openly announced his support for Vastanvi. Mufti Nizamuddin, president of the Bihar unit of the council said: "He is a good administrator, a moderate and pro- development," noting that Vastanvi had been a successful administrator at each one of the Islamic institutions he had run for the past 12 years.